First suspected Ebola case in Johannesburg?

Yadhana Jadoo and Alex Mitchley

This colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) obtained March 24, 2014 from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, reveals some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion. PHOTO: AFP.

There is a suspected case of Ebola at the Rahima Moosa Hospital, west of Johannesburg, DA Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom claimed on Thursday.

Bloom claimed he had received information regarding a possible case at the hospital.

“The patient is from Guinea and is presently being kept in isolation. If it is a confirmed Ebola case then the patient will be transferred to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital which has been designated to treat Ebola with all due safeguards,” he said.

The national health department could not immediately confirm this to be true and health spokesperson Joe Maila said he would comment at a later stage.

“This is a serious situation. The Gauteng Health Department must provide full information to allay public fears, and tracing must be done to find any people who were in close contact with this particular patient,” said Bloom.

Earlier this month, Professor Lucille Blumberg the Deputy Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reassured the public that those who were infectious, were critically ill and would not be able to cross South Africa’s borders.

The National Health Department said earlier this month that it had put all ports of entry on high alert.

The Transnet Ports Authority had earlier this week dismissed rumours that two ships from west Africa, entering the country had suspected Ebola cases on board.

OR Tambo International Airport and Lanseria Airport have been fitted with thermal scanners for anyone entering the country, displaying an extraordinarily high temperature.

SA’s Ebola History

South Africa has only had one encounter with the deadly Ebola virus, with two infections and one fatality.

In 1996 a doctor who has been treating patients in Gabon travelled back to Johannesburg South Africa.

He fell ill but recovered, however the nurse who was treating him caught the virus and died.

Since the latest Ebola epidemic was declared in Guinea in March 2014, the disease has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria killing over 1000 people.

The number of people affected and killed by the outbreak makes it the deadliest Ebola eruption in history.

UPDATE

Maila has since said that the National Health Department will update the nation regarding reports of a suspected Ebola case in Johannesburg later on Thursday afternoon.